This is a rather interesting site. Infinite worlds of fantasy. http://www.iwofa. net. A lot of authors, some known and some less known, post there. I need to explore this. On a side note, I wonder about epublishing. The ebook market in 2010 was "only" 10% of the total book market. That said, Amazon sold more ebooks that paper books. I think it is due at least in part to the price. An ebook costs usually around $2.99. It it is more expensive, it may sell as badly as a paperback. If it is priced "right", though...Besides, everybody seems to have Kindle. I wonder if other ebook readers as as good as Kindle? Perhaps I should go fo ebook only when I start the next series (actually, I already started).

Imagine Lord of the Rings and put it into space. Cross Assimov's science fiction and Middle Earth. What you get is The Adventures of the Carotian Union by Karen Webb. Karen happens to be the editor of Spear of Seth, but she is an accomplished author of her own and waaayyy ahead of myself when it comes to publishing. Look here: http://www.chaliceoflife.com/. Karen completed two of the books of the series, but there will be eight of them, or so I hear. Chalice of Life is the first and Tapestry of Enchantment is the second, and, in my opinion, it is better than the first, which is already very good. I look forward to the third one, the Lamp of Truth. I hear that this will carry strong eastern motifs and strongly hope for flying carpets. Karen publishes with Dragon Moon, which is a small outfit, but it plays an important role if you are fan of science fiction. Read it. You will not regret it.

This is a rather special fantasy for the midgrade (5 to 8th grade) crowd, published and available on Kindle. It is about an Indian American boy visiting a village in India where his family comes from. The story is based on the ancient epic of Ramayana, which describes a conflict between humans and monsters called Rakshasas, which try to rule the world. Behera takes this conflic to the contemporary world and skillfully waves a tale of how Vikram and his friends defeat the monsters. The settings of the book are wondeful and it is a fast-paced adventure. This would become one of my favortie books, if I read it when I wad 10. I like it even now. it is very well done and when my kids are ready, I will recommend it to them. I learned quite a bit about Indian legends too. That was an added bonus. I look forward to new adventures by Vikram.

Well, I guess it is coming close. The book will be published in either spring or summer, depending on who I am talking to. Given that I finished it in late 2008 or early 2009 and signed contract in December 2009, it is about time. You can see the original press release here: http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/62723/. I have been working on it since 2007. There were ups and downs. I guess I will complain about it some other time, bacause I wanted to mention something else. David of Pyromyth Games is working on a board game based on this book. You can read about it here: http://www.bgdf.com/node/4243.

This is the first post today. Later today, I will review a very interesting fantasy I discovered recently. It is called Vikram and The Enchanted Seals.

I was sent this link sometime ago by a friend. http://www.velesova-sloboda.org/album/vsevolod-ivanov.html. It shows some fantatsic pictures. I thought it is a random fantasy at first, but then I realized it is a story of Hyperborea in pantings. Hyperborea was a mythical land far north, named so by Greeks. A lot of countries claimed they were Hyperborea, including Scandinavian. What this link suggests is that Hyperborea was most likely in the Arctic circle, in Siberia, and it appears to be Slavic. There is the Slavic Pantheon, including Svantovit and other gods, and the settings look Russian. The paintings suggest that Hyperborea was frozen following the "third coming of Perun", Perun is a Slavic equivalent of Zeus, and in the painting it seems to be a comet. After the frost descended, Hypeboreans left. One of the mysteries here is who is the artist. The name tracks to a famous Russian artist, but it looks to me it is a pseudonym. Anyway, those paintings rock and I would love to write a novel with these illustrations. too bad I do not know how to contact the author. I will try to update this blog every Friday.

Author

René Daniel, the site founder, physician, scientist (gene therapy, HIV, aging) and a writer of adventure and fantasy novels. His first novel, Spear of Seth, is set in the ancient Egypt Underworld. His second novel, The Last Secret of Nikola Tesla ( an unknown Tesla's legacy leads to Indiana Jones-like adventure in Egypt).